VENTURA : Council to Consider Youth Services Plan

Eighteen months after Ventura Mayor Tom Buford formed a youth task force to develop a recreational plan for the city’s young people, the City Council tonight will consider adopting the proposal.

City officials are stopping short of recommending that the council approve funding for the project but said the youth services plan would work as a blueprint for what the committee hopes to accomplish in coming years.

Made up of city staff, educators and students, the task force spent months putting together the proposal, which recommends creating a recreational center for teen-agers, late-night programs to get children off the streets and partnership programs between police and youth, Buford said.

“We’ve got a lot going on in the community for our young people,” Buford said. “But there’s a lot more we can do.”

The task force also will look to organizations such as the Boys & Girls Clubs to create new recreational activities for teen-agers, he said.

The youth services plan identifies projects that would require about $600,000 a year in city funding. But even Buford acknowledged that may be difficult.

“I don’t expect the council to start spending money this time of year,” he said. “But we’ll be in a better position when the budget comes around next year to see what we can do.”